Amia, The Riddle Girl: Part Two
by Lost1nTheLight
Summary: Amia is prepared for whatever is to come with the new school year. Well, at least she thinks she is. Except it turns out that last year was only the beginning of her adventures. This time she's not alone though, and that's what matters. But will it be enough when her world comes crashing down around her?


**Author's Note: Okay so this is the next story, I hope you all like it! This first chapter is kind of just to set things up and to see what's happened since the end of the school year. Anyways, please review and tell me what you think!**

Chapter 1: Egypt or Hermione

_A world in which there are monsters,_

_and ghosts,_

_and things that want to steal your heart_

_is a world in which there are angels,_

_and dreams,_

_and a world in which there is hope_

_- Neil Gaiman_

"Something wrong, Fred, George?" Amia asked innocently. The rest of the family watched the interaction suspiciously.

"No." Fred frowned, adjusting his shirt uncomfortably.

"Nothing at all." George said, doing his best to scratch his back.

"Really?" Ginny raised her eyebrows sweetly, a mischievous glint in her eye to match Amia's. "You look a little awkward."

The twins shook their heads quickly. "No, no."

"We're fine." They responded hastily, not willing to admit any weakness.

"Alright then, if you say so." Amia had to cover her mouth to stop from giggling as the two desperately scratched, the itchiness no doubt relentless.

Finally the boys could no longer take it and threw down their toast, pulling off their pajama shirts and scratching wildly – uncontrollably – at every inch of skin that wasn't covered.

At this point neither Ginny nor Amia could hold it in any longer and both girls burst out laughing.

The twins stopped and slowly looked at them. "Did you two –" Fred shouted.

"You wouldn't!" George exclaimed, eyes blazing.

Amia and Ginny quickly put down their forks and sprinted from the room, Fred and George in hot pursuit.

The sisters ran outside and hid in the garden, watching as the twins searched for them furiously. After a few moments of crouching and grinning like Cheshire cats, the two girls suddenly realized that Fred and George had disappeared. The two glanced at each other in panic. There was no way they would give up that easily – not Fred and George – so them vanishing could only mean one thing. Just as the realization of what had happened dawned on the children and they were about to bolt, they were tackled to the ground by two red-haired fifteen year olds.

They shrieked, partly in shock, partly in fear, partly in delight, partly in laughter, and partly in protest. However the twins had been pranked – the kings of pranksters pranked – and they had decided to teach their two youngest siblings a lesson.

Fred picked a squirming Amia up with difficulty and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. George did the same with Ginny and the boys marched off, away from the house. It was a good thing that the girls were very light, or else their plan would not have worked.

Where were they going? Amia glanced at Ginny in alarm only to see the same expression of panic mirrored back at her.

"Ha! This will teach you not to mess with the greatest pranksters of the wizarding world." Fred proclaimed.

"Well, perhaps with the exception of the Marauders." George added thoughtfully.

Fred nodded seriously. "True." He agreed.

"Who are the Marauders?" Ginny and Amia asked at the same time, temporarily forgetting their predicament.

"Ah, you have much to learn young ones." Fred said.

"The Marauders are legends. The greatest pranksters of all time!" George shouted dramatically, almost throwing Ginny off his shoulder.

"Anyways, back to the point." George continued.

"Although the both of you are rather inexperienced –" Fred said.

"Young –"

"Innocent –"

"Harmless –"

"Pure –"

"Virtuous –"

"And much less expert-y than us."

"The fact that two little girls such as yourselves were able to prank us – the prankster kings – is quite impressive."

"It seems you both have bright futures ahead of you as pranksters."

"With our help and guidance you could be great!"

"Greater than great!"

"The greatest!"

"Well, that is not including us and the Marauders of course."

"Of course."

Ginny and Amia grinned at each other, secretly pleased that the twins thought they were such great pranksters.

"However, sadly –"

"Tragically –"

"You _still _did prank us."

"Which is an act punishable by death."

"But since we are merciful –"

"And you two lovely ladies happen to be our little sisters and despite everything we do rather like you –"

"We will bend ancient pranking rules –"

"Only for you –"

"And minimize the consequences as much as we possibly can."

Amia's eyes widened with fear just as they reached the tiny lake, and both girls – still in their pajamas – were thrown into the water.

Amia came up, spluttering and gasping for air, Ginny breaking the surface at almost the exact same time. Amia didn't wait to regain her breath, just ran out and shoved Fred and George in. They were both so caught off guard that they didn't even try to stop it as they went tumbling in.

Ginny got out and stood beside Amia, laughing as they watched the twins flounder even though it was shallow enough for them to stand in.

Then the girls made their way back to the house, soaked, leaving Fred and George behind.

Of course, the twins would think up some way to get back at them later, for which Amia and Ginny would need to prepare. It was a war. It started a little while ago when the girls had challenged the boys' pranking skills. Some of the other siblings would help one side or the other once in a while, but it was mostly just Fred and George, against Amia and Ginny. The itching powder hadn't come even close to one of the girls' greatest tricks, but it was so old and classic that the twins never saw it coming, that's why they'd been so furious and insulted.

The pranking war was only one part of what had been happening since school had finished. When they'd gotten off the train, and the rest of the family saw Amia and Ginny holding hands and smiling it was like a miracle. Mrs. Weasley had rushed over and squeezed them both tight, Mr. Weasley patting each firmly on the shoulder with a smile as wide as the sun. Bill said nothing, just pulled them into a big hug that meant more than anyone could have explained. It meant that he wanted to say a lot of things but had no words for them so instead he just wrapped his arms around them. It meant that he had missed them. It meant that he was so relieved he could have cried to know that all those times he closed his eyes and wished with all his soul that his two baby sisters would be okay weren't in vain. But most importantly, to Amia, it meant that he loved them and that was the only thing she cared to know.

Charlie almost started crying. Again. He didn't though, because if he did the twins would never let him forget it. They didn't know about last time though. It had only been him and Amia then. He had hugged and kissed Ginny and smiled like a maniac, and then he'd picked Amia up like she was a little girl (and technically she was, plus some rules didn't apply to her seeing as sometimes she did in fact act like an infant anyway), and rested his cheek against hers, hand brushing over where the necklace was under her shirt. "You remembered." He breathed, eyes closed, and it sounded to her almost like he was breathing out all the fear and worry and tension and prayers that he'd been holding onto so tightly since Christmas.

Ron was much less awkward now and far more brotherly. Every time he called her Mia it made her grin from ear to ear.

They'd been sending tons and tons of letters to Harry and Hermione, and in fact, Amia was going to soon be staying with Hermione for a super extra-long sleepover that lasted weeks and Amia was so excited that when Mrs. Weasley had given her the news she'd run around the house and then outside and then jumped into the lake and then back into the house and then out again and then she laid on the grass for a while, too excited to even think about it.

All kinds of other stuff had happened, but basically what it all summed up to was this: Amia was happy. She was happy and she wasn't afraid or sad or empty anymore. She was happy to have a family, and that was it. Last year she'd spent ages wondering about what was going on with her Papa, and let her mind be consumed by fear of what was to happen. She had decided that to live like that was to not live at all, so she'd let it leave her mind, and when she thought about (which she couldn't help from doing now and again) she knew that what was going to happen was going to happen and letting it control her thoughts all the time wasn't going to change anything. So she didn't let it. In the end, the important thing was that if the worst of the worst happened, she still had friends and a family that she loved and that loved her, and that really wasn't that bad, was it? It wasn't bad at all.

"What are you girls doing all wet?" Mrs. Weasley demanded when they got inside.

"Fred and George's fault!" They both said quickly. Apparently this was enough of an explanation in itself because the woman shook her head but Amia saw the smile on her lips.

"Alright well, I think it's time for a bath. Both of you." Mrs. Weasley ordered, pointing upstairs. The two girls grinned and skipped over to the stairs, they didn't mind baths at all.

"Oh, and you might need to get some towels ready for Fred and George when they get back." Ginny called over her shoulder as they ran up to the bathroom, not waiting to see what Mrs. Weasley would say to that information.

* * *

><p>Amia sat on the bathroom floor as Ginny bathed herself, a curtain separating the two girls.<p>

"I can't believe they didn't see that one coming." Ginny's voice came from behind the curtain.

"I know, it was awesome. But now we've got to be really careful." Amia warned.

"Yeah. You're leaving in a few days though and then I guess we'll have to suspend the war because I definitely can't do it without you." Ginny said.

Amia smiled. "I guess we'll just have to continue when I get back."

A sigh. "I'm going to miss you Amia. I can't believe that you're leaving me with _the brothers._"

"Well I'm sure that Hermione would be happy to have you come too –" Amia started, feeling bad.

"No, no, it's okay." Ginny said quickly. "I was only joking. I love you a lot Mia, and I like Hermione too, but you two are much better friends than me and her."

The sound of water draining cut Amia off from whatever she was going to say.

Ginny's hand appeared from behind the curtain. "Pass me my towel?" Amia obliged and a couple seconds later Ginny emerged.

"Go ahead." She told Amia and turned around so that the other girl could have her turn in the bath.

* * *

><p>That night a surprise came. It turned out that Mr. Weasley had won seven <em>hundred <em>galleons in an annual Grand Prize Galleon Draw for the Daily Prophet. Amia had never even _heard _of such a huge amount of money. When Mr. Weasley told them there were several different reactions: Ron spat his mouth full of sausage back onto his plate. Fred and George both did double takes and then pulled incredibly conveniently placed firecrackers out of their pockets and set them off. Percy's hand went flying to his mouth but instead knocked his glasses off his face and made them go flying into Mrs. Weasley's hands. Charlie's eyes bulged right out of his head and then a smile the size of the Atlantic Ocean spread across his face. Bill jumped out of his seat and pounded his fists on the table, cheering. Mrs. Weasley was in such shock that she couldn't even reprimand Fred and George for nearly setting Ginny's shirt on fire or Bill for knocking his empty glass of water over from his pounding. It was like she was completely frozen. Ginny choked on her milk and ended up coughing so violently Amia had to slap her on the back as hard as she could and then as she did the milk came back out her nose. She would have been laughed terribly if the situation wasn't what it was.

Amia was part awe-struck, part-confused. She didn't really know how much seven-hundred galleons were or what they could get, except that that was more than she'd ever even thought about before, so it must have been a WHOLE lot.

After everyone calmed down Mrs. Weasley got up and pulled Mr. Weasley into another room without another word. The children all stared at each other silently for a moment, then decided as one that they couldn't just sit and wait in anticipation. So they got up, cleared the table, cleaned the dishes, fixed whatever had been ruined by the firecrackers, Ginny washed her face, and then they sat back down at the spotless table without speaking.

Occasionally they would glance at each other, but then they'd look away and frown at something, too curious about what was happening behind the door that Mrs. Weasley had closed, and too excited by the news they'd been given to keep their eyes on anything too long without exploding. Amia wasn't quite sure why none of them were saying anything but she decided that she better just go along so she didn't mess any unspoken agreement up.

Finally, ages later the door opened. All eight heads snapped in its direction and they watched intently as Mrs. and Mr. Weasley made their way over to the table.

"Thank you very much for cleaning up." Mrs. Weasley said. One of the twins' eye twitched. They didn't have time for such trivial things, they needed to know what was going on!

However Bill, being the oldest and perhaps most mature (perhaps) said, "Of course."

"So. I apologize for that but we needed to discuss some important things. Obviously the most practical way to use the money would be to spend it on fixing the house up some and maybe some new robes and so on." Mrs. Weasley said. You could almost hear the children groaning inside their minds. When you won seven hundred galleons, you did not use it up on something as unexciting as new robes. "However, we have decided that for once we should enjoy something. And all of you deserve to have something special. So, instead, we're going on holiday!"

It was an uproar. Yelling, cheering, jumping up and down. Amia could barely even move from fear that she would get trampled or something of the sort. Charlie ran over and picked both Ginny and Amia up at the same time, and twirled them around. "I can't believe it! A holiday!" Ginny shrieked.

For quite a while it was chaos, and even Mrs. Weasley couldn't reel the children in. When they finally calmed down she spoke again. "Alright, so I want everyone to think about where they want to go tonight. And in the morning you'll all write it down on a piece of paper and we'll look over them and decide. Fair?"

The eight of them nodded their heads furiously and then they thundered up the stairs. Charlie, Ginny and Amia brushed their teeth and put on their pyjamas at lightning speed. And then Amia quickly grabbed her monkey pillow and the three ran down to Bill's room. Even without saying anything they all knew this was the cause of an emergency meeting, which was usually held in the eldest's room. Sometimes they went in Ginny and Amia's, sometimes in Charlie's, and sometimes in Ron's, but Bill's room was regularly the one occupied for meetings such as these. They certainly never went in the twins' room though, because with all of their experiments and pranks and who knew what else it was highly dangerous in there.

As soon as Amia and Ginny sprinted into the room they both leaped onto the bed, yelling their most fearsome battle cries. They'd been performing this exact move all summer long and had long since perfected it. However, what they didn't see as they both flew gracefully onto the mattress, was that it already had other occupants. Just as they opened their eyes and saw that they were about to collide with other human beings, they screamed in a much less artfully practiced way and then were on top of them. Ginny was lucky enough to land on Bill, who was big enough that he could catch her painlessly and settle her onto the bed. Amia was not nearly as fortunate. She crashed right into Ron, who fell back and tumbled onto the floor. Amia went with him and a second later the two were a tangled heap of limbs.

Bill's head popped out from above the bed. "Are you two alright?" He asked worriedly. They both groaned. He and Charlie chuckled.

"I guess that's what you get for doing your warrior leap without looking." Charlie laughed. Amia glared up at him and then rubbed her cheek where she could already feel a bruise starting to form. Once she could breathe again she quickly scrambled off Ron and knelt over him.

"Are you okay Ron? Do you have any broken bones? Your arm? Your leg? Your head?" She asked frantically.

He sat up slightly drunkenly – most likely from dizziness. "Amia . . ." He began, turning to look at her more slowly than it would take a turtle to run a marathon.

"Yes?" She looked at him, eyes wide.

"Ouch." He finally said, then climbed back onto the bed.

For a moment, Amia just sat on the floor, looking up at the rest of them. Then she jumped onto the bed as well, much more carefully this time, and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek – which did nothing to heal his wounds but at least took the glare off his face.

Once everyone was there Bill began the meeting. "Alright. We have a most serious matter on our hands. Although mum and dad have decided to go on a holiday, by morning they'll already be thinking about what money they can save blah blah blah and trying to find the cheapest place to go. Now, it will be a difficult task to overrule the two of them, seeing as their strength and determination has seldom wavered before, but I believe if we unite, together the eight of us can hold our own and convince them that practicality is not the answer!" He shouted, eyes blazing with the light of rebellion. Everyone but Percy cheered in agreement.

"So we should all decide on one place together so our argument is solid." Bill concluded. The others nodded.

For approximately twenty eight minutes numerous random answers were thrown out and shot down or discussed, until finally the moment of truth came when both George, Charlie _and _Ginny said at the same time, "Egypt!"

Astonished silence fell over the group. Never before had THREE children agreed on something at the same time. Never.

"Well is anyone opposed?" Bill raised his eyebrows, looking around. No one said anything. "Egypt it is then."

They all cheered and celebrated, Amia having not gone anywhere but Hogwarts and the Weasleys' house other than her home with her Papa before in her life, was perhaps the most excited of all. That all changed when one person, the only one in the room that had the ability to think reasonably spoke up.

"But aren't you off to that friend of yours, Granger's, Amia? The only way for you to come is to cancel." Percy interrupted.

All faces turned to him. Then to Amia. As the silence wore on they became more and more panicked at what their sister's reaction would be to this development. Her eyes began to twitch slightly as she stared at Percy. She clenched her fists around her shirt and was about to open her mouth when Charlie's instincts kicked in. To avoid the devastating catastrophe that was undoubtedly about to happen, he rushed over to Amia and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. We just need to figure out a solution. Maybe we can shorten the holiday so we can have it after you get back?"

Obviously no one was in favour of that option, and Amia knew it. She sighed disappointedly. There were only two choices. She didn't go to Hermione's, or she didn't go to Egypt. She frowned and bit her lip, thinking it over. They all watched her apprehensively. No one wanted her to miss the opportunity to go to a whole new part of the world when she'd never been anywhere before, but they didn't want her to have to pick between that and her friend either.

After quite a bit of thinking, she straightened. "I'll go to Hermione's. It would be lovely to go to Egypt and be with all of you, but I miss Hermione lots. Plus if I don't go on holiday then you won't have to pay for me and we can save some of the money."

Evidently there was no changing her mind so they all just nodded. "Okay Amia, I wish you were coming but if you want to go visit Hermione then I think you'll have a wonderful time." Ginny told her reassuringly. "We'll tell mum and dad in the morning."

With that the meeting was finished and they all made their way back to their rooms, everyone patting Amia on the shoulder because it was obvious that she would have loved to go to Egypt. On their way out Fred and George both hit Percy on the back of the head. The problem would have come up at one point or another but any chance they got to blame something on Percy they would take.

The truth was that although the prospect of going to Egypt was more exciting than you could imagine, Amia was slightly terrified of going to a place so unknown and far away, and even though she would be with the Weasleys all she really wanted was to see her friends again, and so even though it made her a little sad not to go, she was perfectly content to visit Hermione.

* * *

><p>"Alright then dear, if that's what you want." Mrs. Weasley patted Amia's shoulder when she told her that she wasn't going to go on holiday with them the next morning. "I think that it's only fair we get something for you with some of the money that you're saving by not going. Is there anything you'd like?"<p>

Amia perked up instantly. "A monkey!" She shouted without hesitation.

Mrs. Weasley winced. "Yes, well I'm not sure if that's possible at this exact moment. Is there anything else?" The rest of the children had to stifle their laughter.

Amia thought for a moment. "Ice cream?"

"But you could have ice cream right now, I mean something special." Mrs. Weasley tried again.

Amia wasn't listening though. "I can have ice cream right now?! For breakfast?! Really?!" She looked up at Mrs. Weasley with her huge grey eyes and furrowed her brow.

"Well –" It seemed that the kind-hearted woman was about to refuse Amia's puppy dog face, but instead she threw her hands in the air. "Alright then why not? Yes Amia, you can have ice cream for breakfast."

Amia's mouth dropped open and then she smiled one of the biggest smile anyone had ever seen her smile before. "Thank you, thank you! We don't need to get anything else, this is good enough!"

Then she raced into the kitchen to decide what kind of ice cream she wanted. Fred and George stepped up to face their mother incredulously. "Mother, are you really only going to let one of your children have ice cream while the others have to watch in silent suffering? Are you really going to subject us to that?"

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes. "Fine. You know what? Everyone can have ice cream sundaes for breakfast how about that? But just as a treat this once."

The children cheered and then off they went to prepare their breakfasts, each with a different insane combination.

Amia picked just plain vanilla, her recently discovered favourite ice cream (she had a new favourite every week), and put caramel on top, as well as all manner of sweets and slices of banana to top it off. And then as a finishing touch she drowned it all in whip-cream. However that was nothing compared to the twins' they had put a scoop of every kind of ice cream the Weasleys' had in and covered it with chocolate and strawberry and caramel sauce and then like Amia piled sweets on. No banana or anything at all healthy for them.

Once they all had their sundaes they sat at the table and ate. By the end, the bottom half of Amia's face had so much ice cream and whip cream and caramel sauce and chocolate chips on it that she looked like a Santa that had gotten into the pantry.

That afternoon they all had tummy aches. Though Amia suspected the twins' might have been faking so they could get out of cleaning the attic. Surprisingly she didn't mind, even her stomach ache wasn't that bad. She was just happy. And when you were as happy as she was it was incredibly difficult to dampen the mood. Even with a stomach ache.

**Please review it would mean a lot. :)**

**Love,**

**Lost1nTheLight**


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